Media

Code:

M201

Acronym:

M

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Communication Design

Instance: 2015/2016 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Design
Course/CS Responsible:	Communication Design

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
DC	62	Licenciatura em Design de Comunicação	2	-	6	60	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

* To provide an introduction to a study and ecology of media, exploring digital photographic image, audio and video.

* To understand and to problematize the transforming role of media along the process of communication;

* To understand and to problematize the role of the physical apparatus within the process of experiencing media, questioning its formal, operative, and aesthetic features.

Learning outcomes and competences

At the end of the semester the students will have accomplished an informal contact with digital image, audio and video, a study that will be further developed in subsequent course units of a more specific nature.

* Fundamental understanding of the formal traits of the photographic digital image, audio and video, taking into account their sociocultural manifestations;

* Fundamental understanding of the audiovisual contract;

* Fundamental understanding the relationship between these media (audio and image) and the physical apparatuses that support them;

* Development of generic technical skills for recording, producing and editing, sequencing and sampling image and sound.

Working method

Presencial

Program

The program of Media class is distributed into three modules. Focusing on the production and manipulation of sound and image, the following media will be introduced: 1) Digital photographic image, 2) Digital audio, and 3) Digital video. Students will produce practical exercises of an experimental nature corresponding to each class module, regarding the specificities and characteristics of each media and the respective apparatuses they depend on.

Mandatory literature

Barry Truax (editor); Handbook For Acoustic Ecology, sd
Chion Michel; L. audio-vision. ISBN: 2-09-190704-9
McCloud, Scott; Reinventing comics: How imagination and technology are revolutionizing an art form, HarperCollins, 2000. ISBN: 978-0-06-095350-8
McCloud, Scott; Understanding Comics: The invisible art, Harper, 1993. ISBN: 978-0-06-097625-5
McLuhan Marshall; The medium is the massage
Ferrington, Gary; On A Clear Day I Can Hear Forever (At http://dreamsteep.com/writing/media-arts-production/86-on-a-clear-day-i-can-hear-forever.html.)
Ferrington, Gary; Take A Listening Walk and Learn To Listen (At http://www.acousticecology.org/writings/ferr-walk.html.)
Schaeffer, Pierre; Acousmatics
Truax, Barry (editor); Handbook For Acoustic Ecology., Cambridge Street Publishing, 1999 (CD-ROM edition; 1st edition in 1978. At http://www.sfu.ca/sonic-studio/handbook/.)
Truax, Barry; Soundscape Composition as Global Music, Sound Escape Conference: An International Conference on Acoustic Ecology, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, 2000 (At http://www.sfu.ca/~truax/soundescape.html.)

Complementary Bibliography

Adobe; A Digital Audio Primer, Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2003
—; A Digital Video Primer: Understanding and Using High-Definition Video., Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2006
Adobe;; A Digital Video Primer An Introduction to DV Production, Post-Production, and Delivery, Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2006
—; Audacity 2.0.5 Manual (At http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/.)
—; Audacity, Floss Manuals (At https://www.flossmanuals.net/audacity/.)
—; Audio Production, Floss Manuals (At https://www.flossmanuals.net/audio-production/.)
Carvalhais, Miguel, and Pedro Tudela (editors); Cochlear Poetics: Writings on Music and Sound Arts, 1 ed. Vol. 2, Mono. Porto, Portugal: NAi / i2ADS / FBA.UP, 2014. ISBN: 978-989-98745-0-3
David Pogue; Digital Photography The Missing Manual, O'Reilly Media, 2009
Everest, Alton F. and Ken C. Pohlmann; Master Handbook of Acoustics, McGraw-Hill, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-07-160333-1
McCloud, Scott; Reinventing Comics: How imagination and technology are revolutionizing an art form, Harper, 2000. ISBN: 0-06-095350-0
McLuhan, Marshall; “The Medium is the Message”, in Understanding Media: The extensions of man., 1964
Oliveros, Pauline; Deep Listening: A Composer's Sound Practice, iUniverse, 2005. ISBN: 0-595-34365-1
Schafer, R. Murray; A Sound Education: 100 Exercises in Listening and Soundmaking, Arcana Editions, 1992. ISBN: 1-895127-15-7
Schafer, R. Murray; The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World, Destiny Books, 1999. ISBN: 0-89281-455-1 ((republished; 1st ed. 1977))
Sonnenschein, David; Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema, Michael Wiese Productions, 2001. ISBN: 0-941188-26-4

Teaching methods and learning activities

Presentation, analysis and discussion of relevant materials in order to establish a permanent discussion forum within the workgroup.

The classroom will be organized according to a laboratorial structure for the development of design projects. Thereby, will be set in place the idea of the creative lab as a space of experimentation and exploration, where, collectively, students will develop class projects in order to implement scientific contents and consolidate technical skills.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	10,00
Trabalho laboratorial	90,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Elaboração de projeto	40,00
Estudo autónomo	25,00
Frequência das aulas	45,00
Trabalho de campo	25,00
Trabalho laboratorial	27,00
Total:	162,00

Calculation formula of final grade

* The final grades will be calculated from the mean average of every project evaluation, and its articulation with a qualitative evaluation of the students' attendance and contributions in class and in all the remaining curricular activities;

* Non delivered projects will be scored with a 0 (zero);

* Projects that are not duly monitored won't be evaluated;

* Projects delivered beyond the established deadlines will be penalized in its score by 25%.

Classification improvement

Only by frequenting classes in the following year.